


Some things remain the same

by grim_lupine



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Established Relationship, F/M, First Time, Gen, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-20
Updated: 2010-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-24 20:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/267561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grim_lupine/pseuds/grim_lupine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Collection of Narnia genderswap three-sentence fics, mostly of the girl!Edmund variety. Most fics are Peter/girl!Edmund, but there's gen in there too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some things remain the same

-

\--

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, on the battlefield**

Ed is the sister Peter's always had the most trouble with: Lucy is sweet and looks up to him, Susan listens to him most of the time when she can tell he's serious about something; but Ed, Ed drives him _mad_. She has more sharp pride and touchiness than should be able to fit inside her small form, and if Peter tells her to do something that's a sure-fire way to get her to do exactly the opposite; Peter won't lay a finger on her because she's his little sister and he loves her, but she has no problem throwing herself at him and pummeling him with her fists, growling at him to _hit me back, damn it_ —Ed _infuriates_ him, all antagonism and flashing eyes, and Peter thinks their parents should have just named her 'Trouble'.

But here on the battlefield, Ed is a blur of black hair and flashing steel, that fierce energy channeled into her swinging arms, thrusting and blocking blows, eyes snapping with contained fury; she's _beautiful_ , and Peter's mouth goes suddenly dry.

 **Girl!Edmund, a political seductress**

Ed is a pragmatist, and her looks are just another weapon to be used; fake an empty head and look up through lowered eyelashes, and those foolish boy-men warriors fall all over themselves to condescend to explain their war plans to her. Silly idiots, all talk and swagger with nothing of true honor to hold them high; it's almost more than she can do to keep her lip from curling in contempt: she is a warrior, and her triumph is that they do not even know they are falling into her hands.

When she is thrown out of her world, she finds her weapon's edge has been dulled—all her charms get her now are the kind of looks that make something sick pool in her stomach; for her, there are no more wars to be won.

 **Girl!Edmund, second in command**

It should be Susan at his side, by all rights, Susan who is closest to him in age and holds her bow like her hands have always been made to carry it; but she quirks her lips wryly and says, "Of course Ed's your right hand, she's the only one of us mad enough to follow you wherever you'll go."

It's a lie, of course—all of them will follow Peter without a thought, because they trust him with every bone in their body—but she's right about one thing: Ed's the only one mad enough for this; for almost as long as she's been alive, Ed has made antagonism her interaction of choice, always so full of helpless energy and inexplicable fury at the world's injustices that she cannot set right (the biggest injustice she sees is, of course, that she was born a girl when things would be so much easier otherwise).

Peter looks at his wild sister, chin set stubbornly, eyes flashing black and furious, small hand white-knuckled on the hilt of her sword, and he knows there's no one else he would rather have by his side.

 **Girl!Edmund and Caspian, "he's so naive."**

It would be charming if it weren't so sad: the Narnia in which Ed lived and grew up (or a fair approximation of it, even if it is wilder in this time) is a fairy-tale come to life in Caspian's eyes; wonder fairly sparks off him when he surveys what will be his kingdom, and Ed _aches_ for that innocence so reminiscent of childhood.

She had looked at Narnia like that, once upon a time, her beloved home where she became a woman, learning the hunger-pangs of desire and adulthood, immersing herself in ruling a country; she looked at Narnia like that, before she fell out of that land and back into a world where her wisdom was out of place: little-girl body must pretend little-girl mind, and that was the end of her innocence.

Caspian looks at Narnia like everything there is golden; Ed does not have the heart to tell him that sometimes the gold is too bright to last.

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, the spaces in between.**

Ed's cheeks are stained red from the wind, her eyes snapping with vitality, mouth a bruised pink; Peter looks at her and cannot stop looking at her, and his stomach curls in upon itself because he _should not_ be looking.

 _My sister_ , he thinks when Ed curls up next to him by the fire, pliant only in her drowsiness, warm and small and everything he should not want but so achingly does.

Their hands rest on the grass next to each other, scant inches apart, but for Peter those inches might as well be miles.

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, the spy who loves you**

When they were little they would sometimes play spies—Peter would be head spy, Susan would be the damsel in distress he had to save, Ed always wanted to be the villain, and Lucy would play her evil henchgirl until she grew tired and fell asleep with her thumb in her mouth.

In Narnia spies are no game and Peter has finally convinced Ed she's no villain; _she's_ head spy this time, because the fact is that people will underestimate a girl who looks too slender and pale to do any harm, and Peter has to wait on his throne with chest tight until Ed is safely back in the castle.

Ed uses everything she has—everything she has learned about acting a part, plays the foolish enamored maiden desperate for her lover's words, draws her sword when necessary, her quick brain always at the ready (because she has learned painfully the importance of thinking before she acts)—and it is all in Narnia's name, but the name that beats inside her heart is _Peter_.

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, who is the child with no complaint?**

There is an arrow in her thigh; Ed looks around her, trying to stagger to her feet, sword clenched in her hand as she looks for Peter (who will take care of her even if she doesn't want it, that is what he always does) but her mind keeps getting stuck on the fact that there is an _arrow_ in her _thigh_.

" _Ed_ ," Peter gasps, dropping down to his knees beside her; she grits her teeth at the waves of pain crashing over her, but she _will not_ cry out, she is stronger than that (like Peter, who stands so brave in her mind); and the only thing she moves are her fingers when Peter fumbles to grasp her hand.

"You'll be alright," Peter says softly, and already she can hear help on its way, and Peter's hand is warm and broad folded around her own; he says, "It's alright, Ed, I've got you," and she can't help the choked half-sob that escapes, but Peter is stroking her hair back from her forehead so maybe it _is_ alright.

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, I hate you, I love you.  
**  
Oh, she could hate him for so many things—the kind of hate that flares up fever bright for a moment, then burns its way through her until she remembers that it's _Peter_ , who is everything to her.

She could hate him for his smothering over-protectiveness that her mind translates into _you aren't strong enough for this, for Narnia, Ed_ ; she could hate him for his mule-headed stubbornness, his ever-so-male pride that talks him into danger that Ed always fears she may not be able to bring him out of, one day.

But what she hates him for is this: that his skin becomes gilded in the afternoon sun; that his eyes shine brighter than any sun she has ever seen, the light that guides her out of the nightmares that torment her sleep; that his smile makes want curl heavy in her stomach; but most of all she hates that she can't help but love him so.

 **Girl!Edmund/Edmund, meeting**

Peter looks between _his_ Edmund, and—well, Edmund with long hair and a softer chin, full red lips and distracting eyelashes.

"I say, you make a rather pretty girl, Ed," Peter says in a low voice, arm brushing against Edmund's.

Edmund's eyes are half-lidded, and he says quietly, "Indeed," and Peter's mouth goes suddenly dry.

 **Edmund/girl!Edmund/Peter, sexytimes (semi-explicit sex)**

Peter gasps into Ed's open mouth as Edmund rakes blunt nails down his spread thighs, and feels twin wicked laughs shake through him, different only in their pitches; Ed mouths down the curve of his neck, her teeth sharp and insistent, and Peter can feel Edmund's hands traveling upward to cup Ed's breasts.

"That's nice," Ed murmurs, shifting on Peter's lap and Peter groans, " _Ed_ ," eyes slamming shut, and doesn't know which one he is calling for.

The differences between his two Ed's are meaningless; when he falls over the edge all he can see is a pair of dark, hungry eyes, cherished the same for whatever form they come in.

 **girl!Edmund, in England they were separated by school**

That train trip is always so hard, because Susan might be closest to Peter in age, but it's always been Ed that's understood Peter best (even when they used to fight, Ed recognized that it was because he sees right through her in every moment when she wants to be inscrutable).

She knows that when the train slows to a rolling stop, they will have to leave Peter sitting by himself, looking more alone than Ed has ever wanted to see him; Susan will have Lucy to mother, but Ed will not be her dress-up doll and she _refuses_ to be a lady, and all she wants is to have her brother by her side.

Narnia, and the tugging of its magic, have never been more welcome to her.

 **Girl!Edmund, in Calormen they call her the devil’s whore**

 _Devil's whore,_ they call her, _filthy temptress of that evil land, a woman who does not know her place_ ; she fights in battle alongside her brother in lightning-quick flashes of metal, and when they gaze upon her she does not lower her head, but instead meets their gaze with eyes burning black and impenetrable (there is no defiance in her eyes, and the absence of it seems to proclaim she does not find them even worthy of her defiance).

She hears them but pays no heed; she is a warrior-queen, a traitor turned ruler, a girl who has seen too much and gained the wisdom of the world, and has thus become a woman; she needs no affirmation but the embrace of her sisters and the warm approval in her brother's eyes.

Those that speak against her are naught but foolish men lost in their own insecurities; she will _not_ be cowed.

 **girl!Edmund, mistress of puppets**

Ed is a fury on the battlefield, but it's what she accomplishes away from it that truly makes her proud; _My spymistress_ , Peter whispers to her when she comes to him hooded and shadow-cloaked, with enough in words and rumor to ensure that war is only come to when it is a necessity.

She never played dress-up as a child, but she's doing it now with a different end in mind; little-girl dress and wide innocent eyes and no one would even imagine her a queen, and so patronizingly they tell her everything she needs to know; dressed all in black with a dagger in her quick-moving hands, she could be the deadliest of assassins; with a crook of her finger they do her bidding.

They all do, one way or another.

 **girl!Ed/Lucy, a faith I cannot share**

Sometimes Ed thinks that being practical is nothing more than an easier way to dress up world-weary cynicism; she has never been able to be anything but _practical_ , realistic, but sometimes she wonders if she might sleep better at night if she had Lucy's bright-eyed faith.

"We aren't going back, Lu," Ed says quietly, and digs her nails into her palms until the hot tears threatening her eyes are forced back; she may be a queen in exile, but she is a queen nonetheless, and she will not behave with anything less than the dignity befitting her royalty.

Lucy looks at her with such breathtaking compassion, and says to her, "Ed-love, I refuse to believe that Narnia is closed to us; I _refuse_ it," and her conviction is so strong, and her hand so tender cupped around Ed's chin, that Ed thinks she might let herself believe, if only for a moment.

 **Peter/girl!Ed, the life with three sisters**

Peter has three sisters but has never really minded all that much, because Ed's as good as any boy anyway; Susan tries to play dolls and dress-up with her, but Ed just scowls at her blackly and yanks the ribbons out of her hair, then runs off to play catch with Peter in the backyard.

For a few blissful years, Peter knows he has two sisters and a best friend, and even when Ed starts becoming moodier and stops listening to what he says, even when their every interaction is rife with a kind of explosive fury, Peter wouldn't wish her any other way, because then she wouldn't be _Ed_.

In Narnia they grow older, and that's when everything catches alight; it is as if one day Peter wakes from a hazy sleep and notices the sloping white curve of Ed's neck, her clever, mobile mouth curled pink and sardonic; "When did you become a _girl_?" he asks helplessly, inanely, and Ed throws him a look both dark and sly, and says, "It's about _time_ you noticed."

 **girl!Ed/Peter, kiss**

Ed's lips are wet with juice from the apples she's been eating, parted ever so slightly for Peter's touch; _temptation, sin_ , this is what he _should_ be thinking of, but all that comes to his mind is _sweet_.

She pulls back first, then licks her lips afterward as if chasing his taste; she says _You_ have _to know that you're all I've ever wanted_ , and there is only earnest truth in her dark eyes: experience has taught her the value of truth.

Peter cups her face in one hand, traces a thumb over the curve of her cheek; _Lucky me_ , he says.

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, lost without**

There are moments of quiet on The Dawn Treader, during which Edlyn can be found, without fail, standing at the side and gazing out over the sea with something lost and lonely in her eyes; Lucy watches her and aches to take her sister in her arms, but knows there is only so much _she_ can do to help.

Caspian asks her quietly, "What is it she's missing?" while watching Ed with a concerned frown; Lucy clenches her jaw when Ed closes her eyes and turns her face up to the sky, looking as vulnerable as Lucy's ever seen her, and for the first time Lucy doubts Aslan's wisdom—where is the wisdom in causing her beloved sister to hurt like this?

"Her heart," Lucy says, and sends a fervent plea toward Aslan to fix this.

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, a secret smile that no one sees**

This is what Narnia sees: their beloved queen, a woman who does not fully recognize her own worth, someone who has gained wisdom the hard way and will kill herself trying to always, always be just.

This is what their enemies see: a devil-woman who makes the night her shadow-cloak and moves people about like they are chess pieces created to do her bidding, a foully wicked temptress who seduces their men away from their plans, a two-faced whore who is always pretending, always wears a mask.

This is what Peter sees: his sister, young and achingly vulnerable at times behind the strong impassive front she puts up, the one who understands him with as little effort as it takes to breathe, his strong arm and his best friend, with more inner courage than he thinks he will ever have; he sees the way she wakes in the morning, drowsy and rumpled and unguarded, smiling at him the way she has her whole life—shy and bright, like she's the happiest she's ever been right there with Peter; it's a secret smile that no one sees—except the one for whom it is meant.

 **Girl!Edmund/Peter, only a matter of time (contains semi-explicit sex)**

They come off the battlefield with the taste of blood in their mouths and their hands trembling with adrenaline; they fall into bed together in the same haze of battle-fury and helpless lust, and it's fitting that the first time they've allowed themselves this, this resolution to the strange wordless connection they've had almost their entire lives, it's after they've both nearly died.

Edlyn bites Peter's lip _hard_ , drawing tiny drops of blood, and tears at his clothing frantically; Peter growls and pushes her down, leaning closer to trace with his tongue the path of the arrow that almost took his sister in the heart, and when he tries to slow his stuttering breath and gentle his hands, Edlyn rakes her nails down his back and spits out, "Touch me like you _mean_ it, damn it!"; Peter does, there is nothing he means more, nothing more important to him than this moment, and he would lose himself in Edlyn completely if he weren't already lost.

Afterward, he stares down at his hands and feels his stomach clench—this is what he has been fighting against for years, ever since he began to notice Ed's creamy skin and darkly flashing eyes, and realized his sister was rapidly becoming a beauty as well as his best friend; he's always known he wasn't strong enough to resist this forever, but it doesn't make it any easier right now; Edlyn snakes her arm around his waist, drawing him down to murmur in his ear, "This was always going to happen, Peter, it was only a matter of time; I want this and you want this, and the only thing that stands between us is your overblown sense of guilt, and I think between your guilt and my desire, we know which is more stubborn, don't we?"

 **Girl!Edmund and boy!Lucy, young**

He's so _young_ , her little brother, little Lucas who is so bright and carefree and brave; King Lucas the Valiant, and he sees the world as his to love and never doubts that it loves him fully back.

What Ed has is far from that certainty; Queen Edlyn the Just, but all that means is that she has erred and fallen onto a treacherous path before, and thus can recognize it in another.

"Sister dear," Lucas says to her softly, eyes kind and embrace so tender, "if you would only forgive yourself you would see that you are the last one to do so; you are a Queen of Narnia, and this land loves you dearly, as do I," and all of a sudden Ed realizes that Lucas is not so young as he seems.

 **(girl!Edmund verse) Ed and Peter, pickpocket!AU**

Ed smiles, slow and rich, eyes half-lidded, and watches the mark's eyes widen and his throat work as he swallows hard; Peter slides past him smooth as can be, hand dipping into his pocket and out again in the time it takes for the man to blink. "So sorry," Peter murmurs as they're jostled together, and when the man turns to look at him, then looks back, Ed is gone, and so is Peter the next minute.

Later, Ed hisses, "Why do I always have to be the _distraction_ , Peter?" and Peter laughs; "Somehow I don't think anyone would be half as distracted by _me_ , Eddy," he tells her, grinning bright and brushing a kiss on top of her head.

 **boy!Susan and boy!Lucy, pickpocket!AU**

Sam rolls his eyes and yanks Lucas back by the collar, shaking him a little; "Lucas, settle _down_ ; you're driving me insane," he growls, and Lucas makes a pleading face, all big eyes and downturned mouth, and says, "But Sam, I'm so _bored_ ; Ed and Peter won't be here for an hour."

Sam purses his lips and says, "All right, obviously you need something to keep you occupied or you're going to make me tear my hair out; see that man over there, hideous yellow hat? I'll give you five minutes to get his wallet, pull out anything valuable inside it, and stick it _back_ in his pocket without him noticing—think you can do it in five minutes?"

Lucas does it in three.

 **boy!Lucy/Lucy, love all around**

"They just don't understand," Lucas breathes in her ear, hands deft and utterly brazen when undoing the laces of her dress—but it's a brazenness that is comforting in that it's not meant to shock, it's just his straightforward nature; Lucy finds it comforting because of how familiar it is.

"Love is love, in all its means of expression, and thus cannot be anything but wonderful," Lucy agrees, grinning bright and impish before pressing a light kiss against his cheek; it's an innocent gesture at odds with the path her hands are traveling, but Lucas just smiles back at her cheerfully and brushes their noses together, before cupping her face in both hands and kissing her properly this time.

"If more people understood, perhaps they wouldn't be so unhappy all the time, and maybe there would be no more wars," Lucas suggests, a little breathless, and Lucy laughs against his mouth, saying, "Yes, but then Peter would have no more excuse to go waving his sword around, and he'd be dreadfully sad; perhaps it's best this way."

 **Edmund and boy!Lucy, coffee vs. tea**

"I don't drink it for the taste," Edmund says shortly, and tips back the last of his coffee; it's bitter and dark, but he's become used to that.

"Then why?" Lucas asks, frowning and sipping his own tea carefully, "all it does is keep you awake."

Edmund doesn't answer for a moment, and when he finally does his eyes are near-black and desolate; "Little brother," he says, mouth twisted bitterly, "you dream of Narnia in summer, of swimming and feasts and the taste of fruit straight from the tree; I dream of winter, and so sleep is nothing into which I am eager to fall."

 **Boy!Susan, first time in Calormen**

His first time in Calormen he notices the dust, hanging heavy in the air; he notices the harshness of the sun, nothing like Narnia's own gentle rays, but somehow beautiful in its wildness; he notices Prince Rabadash's strange, sinuous beauty and tries not to do so—the Prince is not for him, and his siblings clearly find him distasteful, and anyway Sam can't quite decide if he finds him fascinating or frightening.

They're in Calormen for a few more days, and Sam starts noticing the way people eye Edlyn, like they've never met a girl so bold and unashamed; the looks they give her set his teeth on edge.

The next time Ed says something biting, and the Calormen noblemen trade glances between themselves that reek of disapproval and affront, Sam makes sure he catches every one of their gazes at some point and directs all the considerable silent menace he possesses in their direction; the Gentle he may be, but that does not mean he isn't dangerous, and his sister is ten thousand times better than these ignorant men.

 **all-male!Pevensies, 'when Sam says he doesn't believe, Peter and Ed have to hold Lucas back'**

"We aren't children anymore, Lucas; we have to put aside our games at some point," Sam says in a voice bitingly cold so that no one will notice the fine trembling of his hands, but Edmund notices because once upon a time it had been his job to notice _everything_ —the first signs of a kingdom running to ruin, the burgeoning threats of war and hysteria, the beginning of the splintering of a family; Lucas doesn't see it—all he sees is his brother denying Narnia and thus denying Lucas himself—and so Edmund and Peter have to hold him back with a firm grip on his arms to keep him from flying at Sam in a fury.

"You _know_ it was no game; you were a _king_ , Sam, and that doesn't go away because you're too much of a coward to acknowledge it anymore!" Lucas spits, but it's more anguish in his voice than anger; if Sam will deny Narnia to his face then that is the beginning of the end for them, there.

Sam's face goes blank—Peter is too volatile and Lucas too open, but Edmund and Sam learned in Narnia that the best way to get anything done is behind a face that gives away nothing—and his mouth goes tight; "I have no heart left for dreams," he says flatly, and Edmund can only watch as his brother leaves straight-backed, a king even in his posture, even if he will admit it no longer.

 **all-male!Pevensies, too much to drink**

Lucas is the happy drunk in the family, which comes as no great shock— _let the wine flow like rivers_ , he cries out, drinking deep from his goblet and dimpling brightly at whoever catches his eye—and somehow he never drinks so much that he's hurting the next morning, instead as painfully cheerful as always.

Sam is the moody drunk, the one that stares into his goblet for ages and bemoans his lot in life into any willing ear; Peter waxes philosophical, puzzling out the mysteries of nature and life with his golden hair ruffled and his eyes slightly unfocused.

Edmund never has too much to drink; he's good at pretending—he can make himself boisterous or quiet or morose or belligerent, whatever the circumstances demand—but someone must always keep watch, and he always takes that duty upon himself.

\--

-


End file.
